So business takes me to Salt Lake City once or twice a year. Each time I went, I swore I was going to take an extra day and go to Park City to see what all the fuss was about. This time, I made it happen. So, it starts with getting a bike from JANS. There are many places to rent bikes in Park City, but somewhere along the line I heard something good about them. Nice shop for all sorts of outdoor stuff. I suspect if I went back in December there would be a whole lot less bike/hike stuff on display and a whole lot more skiing apparel and equipment. They rent full suspension MTBs (Trek Fuel) for about $50, and higher-end demo bikes for $90. You can get a better rate on the Treks for a seven-day rental, but I don't think they do that for the demos. But if you demo, they will let you swap out bikes, so you can o an XC bike for half a day and downhill bike for the rest. I figured with the hotel and everything else (although I used points), it was costing me a bit of money, what's a little more? So a nice carbon Santa Cruz 5010 it was. A couple of notes on the bike. I thought it pedaled extremely well, no matter whether the Fox rear shock was in propedal or not. But it wasn't as cush as I might have expected. It seemed to absorb bigger hits just fine (and the fork doing so saved my bacon on one occasion when I cased a jump), but didn't feel great over the rough stuff and chatter. It might have been a matter of tuning, though. This was a rental, after all, set up purely based on my weight. On to the ride. Leaving the JANS parking lot (OK, there was stop in the neighboring Starbucks for some caffeine, first) I headed up a couple of Park City streets to the trailhead for Armstrong trail. This trailhead is the same for Armstrong and Spiro, both of which will access the Mid-Mountain trail. Armstrong has no downhill bike traffic and, according to the guy at JANS, was a slightly less intense climb. Since it started at 6900 feet, less intense sounded like a good idea. Had it not started at almost 7k, I would have called this a mellow climb. But even huffing and puffing, I was loving it. Singletrack all the way, only the occasional hiker/runner coming down and beautiful scenery. And singletrack through aspens. Allow me to reiterate. Singletrack. Through. Effing. Aspens! Why that excites me so much I'm not sure I can say... perhaps just because it's so different from our OC trails. Just seems to epitomize MTB to me. Higher up on Armstrong, there came some pretty awesome views. That's Park City. Park City Mountain resort is the ski area you see on the right. No MTB trails, but I hear they have one of those summer luge things. Just a little further up you hit Mid-Mountain Trail;. You can go a couple of different directions from here, I went right. This is the direction of the iMBA Epic loop, although I believe that route goes up Spiro, so there's a little more mileage than I did. Mid-Mountain trail was surprisingly rocky in places, and, while fairly level, did have some climbing surprises. Not too many pictures on Mid-Mountain. I was happy to take photo breaks climbing up Armstrong; Didn't want to stop on Mid-Mountain. It was just incredible views and amazing scenery and fun singletrack, with a little bit of everything except major chunk. This photo is looking back toward where I had come from. A couple miles past this you come to Red Pine Lodge at the Canyons Resort. This is the mid-mountain area of the resort at the top of the Gondola. Good place for a bathroom break and a snack. If your legs are done, it might be time to consider an alternate route down the mountain - you can access Holly's/Ricochet trails just a bit further down the trail – because more climbing on Mid-Mountain trail awaits. But if you persevere, your reward awaits: Ambush. Sweet downhill singletrack that dumps you at the base of Canyons. Which is perfect, because by now you're ready for lunch. Found a place called Drafts because beer. Much needed and welcomed. The buffalo burger was pretty good, too. Eat and think about my next move. I could head back to town and find some other trails or...$32 later I had my lift ticket to explore Canyons Bike Park. Now, being on a trail bike and having XC protection (i.e. open-faced helmet and gloves) I opted to stick to the green and blue trails. Compared to Northstar, my other bike park experience, these would be blue and black. Every trail had jumps and wooden features. I rolled most of them, flew some of the smaller tables. All the jumps had kind of a weird shape, though - lippy launch, depression and then another hump before the backslope. Haven't been to Snow Summit yet so I can't compare to the tables there. But it was a bit weird because if you didn't fly them all the way to the backslope, you hit that second hump. Didn't care for it. I'm sure I would have felt differently if I'd been padded up and on a more downhill-oriented bike. Overall, a fun park. The guys I saw coming down the black trails looked like they were having fun. Shared lifts with locals a couple of times. One indicated this park was more freeride/flow oriented, where Deer Valley has more traditional downhill trails. Can't vouch for that. I think if I spent a week here I would certainly do both. After about three hours there, it was time to head back to town. Paved bike trail was a little anticlimactic, but it did take me by the city dirt jump park. Yes, you read that right - city dirt jump park. Fun to watch for a bit. I believe there is also a pump track not too far away, but I didn't see it. Got back to the bike shop at 6 and headed back to the hotel for a shower. Awesome day, and I would love to spend more time in Park City to see what it has to offer. Here's the Strava link for the first part of my ride, Armstrong, Mid-Mountain and Ambush. http://www.strava.com/activities/157844364 Oh, and if you're in Park City, don't miss High West Distillery for dinner. Great whiskies (best damn Old Fashioned I ever had) and good food - the smoked Scottish Salmon was amazing.
Thanks for the RR and posting the pictures. Its always fun to be able to ride somewhere new. Bonus to be able to take advantage of a work trip and get a ride in.
Oddly enough, I got a trail map and a pamphlet from Park City yesterday I the mail. I have no idea why I got it, but it got me thinking. These pictures have me thinking even more. My wife and kids are leaving for Pittsburgh on Saturday. They will be gone for a month. I'm not working and it's just me and the dog. I think I need to head to Park City. Thanks for the inspiration!
I always thought of sneaking in a ride day as the ONLY perk to traveling for work. Way to get out and explore the unknown.
Heh... Just noticed that the KOM for the Armstrong climb is held by one Levi Leipheimer. In about a third of my time. I'd have had that KOM if I hadn't stopped to take pictures, I'm sure of it... He probably could have done it a couple of more times and still felt fresh as a daisy. I, on the other hand, was absolutely wrecked for OTH last night having done Park City the day before. And, yes, socal_rider, when I can sneak in a ride while traveling for work, it's a wonderful thing. I've ridden in Phoenix and Vegas before or after work travel. Also at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca - they do evening rides once a month often coinciding with races. Will take the road bike with me next time I'm up there in October. If I had room I'd take a MTB too, maybe pop up to Santa Cruz before or after. Now if I can just find a reason for business to take me to Bend, Ore., or British Columbia....
^Yep. Sometimes just riding something different is fun. I had a blast riding twisty, woodsy singletrack one weekend in Indiana of all places. Unfortunately I learned about Poison Ivy too.
Actually the Laguna Twilight ride is every month, here's the 2014 schedule: http://www.mazdaraceway.com/twilight-cycling I've got to ride that with the MOTOGP riders and mechanics on the GP weekend, a few times with the AMA guys also. Also remember that Laguna Seca is located on Fort Ord... which has 84 miles of single track. BTW, Santa Cruz is 45 minutes north which has TONS of riding! I'll be riding COTA in September!
Brownie, yes, it is once a month, didn't mean to imply otherwise. Rode it last September during the Grand-Am weekend, will be there in October for the SCCA Runoffs and twilight cycling will be on Wednesday of that week. I take the road bike because it fits in the car, but plan to go ride Fort Ord one of these days (and go to Sea Otter). Was shooting outside Turn 6 last month, eyeing the guys riding the single track below. I have some friends riding the Tour of Dairyland or whatever it's called in Wisconsin. Today Road America was the venue (where I was last weekend before heading to Utah). I wonder what's the toughest climb... T6 to the Corkscrew at Laguna, the front straight at Road America or the climb to T1 at COTA?
Thanks for posting. Definitely on my bucket list (almost made it happen last Summer). Tell us all about it next time we see you.
Let's stay on the orginal RR!!.... Pics brought back memories of when I was there2summers ago. Those aspens are amazing and the trails are nice ST. Great trail signage too! Thx for the RR!
